New Potrero Del Sol Skatepark Opens July 4th
Posted in Articles, Corrections, San Francisco on | 6 minutes | 6 Comments →
*recently appeared in the Potrero View.
Correction: As of 6-20, the proposed opening of the park is June 28th. I apologize for any confusion. July 4th was the ‘official’ date given when I inquired in May.
San Francisco’s second public skateboard facility is set to open July 4th at Potrero Del Sol Park, located at 25th and Utah streets in the southeast outskirts of the City’s historic Mission District. The skatepark will be a much-needed relief to local skaters tired of dodging traffic, thugs and broken glass at the usual street spots, while local food, gas and convenience item retailers can expect at least modest revenue spurts, especially in summertime and on weekends.
Although the new skatepark will surely benefit residents and youth of San Francisco by providing a place to roll, local skateboarders, most of whom are overwhelmingly supportive of and thankful for the new park, have also expressed a range of mixed reactions over issues including design, beaurocracy, locale and the potential impact on street skating.
San Francisco has been an international epicenter of skateboard culture and industry for two decades now. Over the years and into today, San Francisco has been home to literally dozens of skateboard manufacturers and is arguably the skateboard-publishing capital of the world. The City got its original attention in the early 1990s via the combination of the original Union Square, the Embarcadero’s Justin Herman Plaza and a pack of gifted local kids including Henry Sanchez, Jovontae Turner, Mike Carroll, Drake Jones and James Kelch. Plan B’s 1992 Questionable video along with subsequent video releases from World Industries catapulted San Francisco and the kids at Justin Herman Plaza, known as ‘Embarcadero’ or simply ‘EMB’ to skaters, into the international skateboarding spotlight.
And why not? Aside from the world-famous plaza, San Francisco itself is a veritable treasure trove of skateable architecture and landscape including unique residential areas and a robust Financial District made all the more amenable to skateboarding with stairs, gaps, ledges and lots of really good hills. In reference to footage of City native Tommy Guerrero creatively utilizing the nooks and crannies of Sunset neighborhoods and downtown thoroughfares in Powell-Peralta’s 1985 smash hit Future Primitive, SFGate.com’s Culture Blog declared the City "A natural skatepark" and indeed that’s a comparison many skateboarders embrace.
As such, conflicts with authority and commercial interests come with the territory. Skateparks are often proposed as the solution to such conflicts, and this itself is a notion skateboarders are sure to have mixed opinions about as well. While most if not all skateboarders support the construction of public skateparks, many feel that over-reliance upon them can encourage the criminalization of street skating, which is technically never illegal unless done amidst public complaint or clearly in the presence of legislation demanding otherwise. Whether good, bad or indifferent, a skatepark gives authorities a place to restrict skateboarding to, but unfortunately natural city architecture and landscape is often far more appealing to skateboarders than the limited designs and shoddy construction of many California skateparks.
Many skaters feel such restriction is completely antithetical to the spirit of skateboarding. "It’s kind of offensive to be caged up like that," says Travis Jensen, a 29-year-old author, skateboarder and City resident who pens the City Sports column for the Chronicle. Jensen notes that although the new skatepark is great and gives skateboarders a relatively safe, family friendly and hassle-free place to skate, it will also provide ample ground for law enforcement to crackdown on street skating, an observation already confirmed by local skateboarders.
"The cops are already telling us to go there and the park’s not even open," said Zak Gonzalez, 24-year-old Mission resident, lifelong skateboarder and warehouse chief for the Mission-based Highgrade Distribution, manufacturers of skateboards, accessories and a growing line of ecologically conscious apparel. Gonzalez added that the skatepark design was good in his opinion, saying, "The park is super sick, it’s got lots of good transitions with lots of skaters in the area…the only other downside is that the other park projects have to be completed before we can skate."
The "other park projects" referred to include an ADA curb ramp and parking stall at San Bruno Avenue, replacement of the bathroom doors, and drainage improvements at the playing field at the northwest corner of the park. While some may argue special pleading, skaters resent having to toil two full months under the imperfections of the streets when the park is perfectly skateable now.
Which brings us full circle. "That’s what I like about street skating," added Jensen. "I just like being out and being a part of the chaos in the streets. It just feels good to be out like that, especially in San Francisco. Parks are fun for practice, but even if there’s 500 parks I’m still going to street skate." This author personally skated EMB in the early nineties and would testify that the natural architecture of the original Justin Herman Plaza was far more conducive to the evolution of skateboarding than either of the existing San Francisco skateparks.
Although situated in the highest concentration of children under 18 in the City with over 19,000 kids living within a mile of the park, the location is arguably not centrally located to the skateboarding community. Skateboarding residents in other neighborhoods wish the park was closer to them, or at least a little more centrally located. For example, many Westside skateboarders wish Golden Gate Park had something too, an issue currently being discussed. "There’s no reason Golden Gate Park shouldn’t have had a skatepark years ago," says Rodney VanB of the Richmond District’s 15-years-strong Purple Skunk skateboard shop. "It’s one of the most famous parks in the world, and it would keep young kids living in the Avenues from having to take public transportation somewhere unfamiliar and dangerous," he added.
Other City residents have absolutely nothing to say whatsoever about the skatepark, or at least nothing bad. Andy Caulfield, 28-year-old team manager and general frontman for the internationally successful FTC skateshop on Haight proper, said, "I don’t think there’s anything bad about it at all. It’s all good. It’s a great start for SF. Hopefully there will be more parks to come." City residents might recall that FTC has actively supported the construction of a public skatepark for most of their 20+ years of service to San Francisco skateboarding.
As for future accommodation of skateboarding in San Francisco, plans are currently underway to incorporate street skating plazas in Golden Gate Park using prop 40 funds, and also at the Duboce Street underpass, with skateboarders and interested citizens invited to get further involved with the San Francisco Skateboarding Association at www.sfskateboarding.org
It was a wise individual who once noted you can’t please all of the people all of the time, and regardless of what you think about the new skatepark it opens July 4th and is accessible by 33 Muni exit 25th Street or 101 freeway exit Potrero or Ceaser Chavez westbound. Admission is free.
Greg Lang
says...This is one of the biggest dilemmas of the contemporary skateboarder. I am glad you have started to address it. Those who are so used to the freedom of street skateboarding
and feeling only self-imposed restrictions, will always feel confined by the barriers a designated skateboard park imposes. To me, skateboarding in its purest form does not start by involving any physical kind of obstacle. The obstacle is mental and self imposed but finds physical obstacles in the external environment to apply itself with. Therefore, it is okay for the skateboarder experiencing a feeling of confinement if it is born from within. However, when the confinement comes from outside the individual who is feeling the imposition of barrier, designation, or obstacle, one begins to feel trapped. The purity of individual expression is lost to the unnatural confusion created by the imposition of an other.
cl
says...Imagine if you lived in a place like Ventura that has arguably the worst skateparks in the state of California. In that case, the street spots are much better than the parks. The bottom line is, any city that creates anything less than a world-class skatepark is selling themselves and their community short, and even in cities with world-class skateparks steps should be continually taken to accommodate natural skateboarding.
Greg Lang
says...What is the standard for world class? I am not sure if skateboarders have defined what is meant by something like world class. If it means replicating street spots, then it seems to be elementary? Especially considering the street spots that would be replicated have already been created once. Why not twice? Skateboarders seem to be arguing amongst themselves as to what a park should consist of. Is it a street replication or a bunch of skateboard obstacles in a park? Or does it consist of all of those things ramps, ledges, banks, and pools all in one place? How many obstacles can be crammed into one location? Why not scatter the designated skate parks like spots already are and make them consist of one obstacle, steps, ledge, etc., each in a different place across the landscape of an urban environment?
cl
says...Word I agree and what you mention is in essence what gets done by the DIY squad. There are several spots that have been added to pre-existing architecture. If we extend this concept into city recreation planning, we end up with something far better and more highly evolved than the skate plaza concept; this would actual city planning with skateboarding as underlying theme. 3 up 3 down comes to mind. Such spots could easily be added to existing infrastructure. As a new form of skatepark, I think cities ought to simply create spots around town like this, much like they would a bike rack or electrical box. Of course the catch, and it is a big catch that would likely not be worked around until a full change of the generational guard at the city government level, would be how to accommodate this idea in a “safe manner” that won’t conflict with everyday humdrum.
Greg Lang
says...Yes you are right about the DIY squad. I am seeing that kind of spot creation as a more beautiful thing, in terms of how one can use it, everyday. I also agree with your take on city planning with skateboarding as an underlying theme. However, the question I begin to ponder is, will people understand this idea? Are people ready for this kind of idea? It seems like people might think of it as a “skateboarding takeover” to a point. I am starting to understand that the term skatepark is an integral part of skateboarding for many people. Without it they feel lost or hurt. Others feel anxiety without the designation that “skatepark” provides and a way of knowing where the skateboarders are and what they are up to. I never felt that way and I never felt the need to use a skatepark unless weather was an issue. Therefore, I do not entirely understand the need to fight for such a thing unless one lives in an extremely unforgiving climate. I feel that the wise approach is to forget about what either side is saying about skateparks and to go skateboarding at a time and a place that goes unnoticed.
solfilm
says...Hm.. Quite interesting read actually, thanks for the good read! :)